Multiple brick unit



Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED STATES rsa1-ENT mmm narcx Unir: L. Aberson, Detroit.

y' Nathaniel Mainarda u toCelia M. Bruder-,.Detrolt, Mich., individually and as trustee Amnimnm october 4. 19347; No. 161,149 s clsims. (cin-1s) This invention relates to a multiple brick unit. It has particularly to do with the design oi' a brick facing for use in brick `iacing or veneer v sheets and multiple brick or tile umts for the-- veneering or facing of interior or exterior walls of buildings. The invention' further relates to the design of insulation sheet to receive brick facings. v

One of the problems in -the forming of a brick facing wall has been to obtain a completed wall which shows an unbroken bond without continuous vertical joints of more than one course high which would indicate that the wall is composed of a number of smaller multiple brick umts. Where two or more horizontal layers ofbrick form the unit, or where in a multiple sheet more than one brick course is formed on the sheet, the end design of the multiple units has been an irregular design adapted to rit or interconnect with adjacent units to prevent the showing of the joints between the units. This design hasbeen either the so-called prong design where every otherl end brick projects part of a length beyond the end of the unit, or the step up design where the multiple brick unit is substantially triangular in shape, the sloping sides becerned as mutation of brickwork.

An object of the present invention is to provide a multiple brick unit with straight edges which -may be joined to one another, end to end.

without the joints being visible` except by very close scrutiny. The invention may be adapted to all types cfbrick from the multiple unit solid brick or building block to the imitation asbestos or asphalt covered wallboard or facing sheets where bricks are simulated by the use of granules, grits. or brick dust. The invention is preferably adapted to the thin tile type of brick which is pressed on tofs sus: wsubosni backing which has been coated with a suitable bonding material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a backingboard which is especially adapted for use with the thin brick or tile slabs. This backing board comprises a sti sheet having raised `portions extending longitudinally and spaced to include the width of the half. slabs. These raised portions permit rapid and economical assembly, for'exlample, of a prefabricated mul tiple brick unit and they also furnish rigidity to the completed brick facing sheet. They to hold the slabs in' place during the Periody theV cement is setting, and allow for positiveandquick alignment of the courses. They also tend gto hold the slabs from the possibility of sliding down were the cement to give way. Y j More specifically itis the objectoi.l the invens' tion to utilize a half length brick or tile-which is blends into an `adjoining half brick in such man-v ner thatthe joint is practically imperceptible.

The following drawings and description disclose various modiilcationsof the invention hereinafter claimed. 'i

Fig. l is a perspective view of the preferred form of brick to be used in my novel multiple Fig. 2 illustrates the manner in which these bricks are placed end to end forming a brick facing similar to that of the standard brick. V

Fig. 3` is a side elevation of the preferredform of brick facing unit. i f' Figs. 4, s and s uiustrste modmcsuonsfin the configuration of the facing of the brick.

Fig. l illustrates the manner in which .the brick units disclosed in the preceding ilgures are mounted on rectangular, backing members" and the manner in which the individual backingmenibrick.

bers joint at the ends.` i

Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the modiilcations in which the brick units of the facing sheetare formed by granules pressed into the bonding lina.- terial. a

Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the preferredxtype of backing member to be used with mynovel Figs. 12 and13 illustrate cross sections of/prefabricated building panels made up partlyo'ffac-f ing sheets disclosed in the previous ilgures."

Fig. 14 is a cross section of the brick facing sheet shown in Fig. 7'.

Flg 15 illustra-tes the manner in which thv Ill',-

vention may be adapted to building blocks having one side faced to simulate brick.

Fig. 16 illustrates the dimenslomu reist(kinshipV between the studs of the building and thefbrick facing units. f A l Fig. 17 illustrates Athe manner in` which `the brick slabs illustrated in Figs. 1 to Lcambe stacked in the firing and drying n 1 One of rthe main features of the present, in-

vention resides in the speciilc coniigurationlof units shown inthe jdr-aw-` Relatively thin tiles or.v brick 'slabs `have the facing of the brick ings. y been used prior to this invention for the .form-` ing of ornamental facingv sheets to beusedffin'- the construction of vhouses and other buildings. The present invention, in its preferred 'embodiment, proposes to form thev bricksf'fo'r briquettes which are used in these *.51 s ne..

provided with a surface configuration-whichl .facing sheets, or smsii clayrslabs or clay particles such as that shown and about 3% inches long so that the combined.

brick, as that shown in Fig.l 2, will have a length oi 'l1/2 inches. When used with a V2 inch mortar joint the module for each brick and its joint will be 8 inches, or 4 inches for each half brick and its proportionate joint. The reason for this maintenance of van 8 inch module for the full brick and one mortar joint is to allow the spanning of studs which are spaced at 16 inches. in standard practice of wall construction. The multiple sheets which are composed of courses of these brick units can be any multiple of 16 inches in length. The use of the 4 inch half brick modules will also allow the making of multiple sheets to any multiple length of 4 inches and this makes them especially useful in the building of prefab# ricated sectional wall units which are being used today in increasing amounts in the construction 'of prefabricated houses. I do not wish to be entirely limited to this size, as other dimensions can be used, as long as the brick, composed of the two end to end slabs, appears to have a face size comparable to a brick and which can be discerned as of brick size, even though the 8 inch module is not obtained in every brick.

Another reason for the novel' dimensions oi the half bricks andthe method of using two tiles or slabs together to simulate one full brick is vthat in burning the clay in production, the shorter the piece is,'the less trouble is encountered with warpage or distortion especially with the" lower cost .shales. In making these tiles in two separate pieces the length is cut down and there is a negligible loss in the drying and burning of the smaller slabs as compared with the comparatively high loss in the burning of the slabs which are substantially the length of the ordinary brick. Furthermore, the pressure which is necessary to press the slabs onto the backing member to form the completed unit, tends to crack a long thin slab which is warped to any degree, whereas. Awhen applied to the face ofthe smaller slabsk it will be less apt to crack them.

A further important reason for the use oi the two half'bricks, or the splitting 'feature of the length of the individual -brick into two equal parts, is to allow for the manufacture of a square edge multiple brick unit which will maintain a so-called continuous or unbroken bond in each Other texturing can be superimposed on the vertical texturing, or textured iirst, to make further desired designs, Fig. 4, although in my preferred method I use a. comparatively straight vertical texturing to better conceal the vertical joint 24. It is alsopossible to provide other designs in the face of the brick which will serve equally well to hide the center joint.V For example, in Fig. 5, a series of S-like scratches 25 are formed in the surface of the brick, these scratches having substantially vertical portions which blend in with the ver-tical joint. A further modiilcatlon in Fig. 6 shows that the joining end 26 between the bricks may bea wavy or zigzag line,

and when the surface of the bricks is also Apro- V vided with wavy or zigzag scratches 21 the joint between abutting bricks-is again practically concealed. An advantage 'in forming substantially continuous grooves in the face of the slabs lies in the fact that the slabs may be stacked during drying and burning (see Fig. 17), thereby affording an economy of manufacture. 'Ihe grooves carry the air and heat through the layers without the necessity of further separation. Another possible design is the use of half bricks having a joining end at an angle with the top and bottom vedges and having grooves in the ornamental face which are parallel with the joining end. I do not propose to 'limit myself to a,

brick face which is provided throughout with grooves or scratches as long as the portion of the face adjacent the joining ends of the slabs Vis provided with grooves having a configuration v other bonding material which is applied while brickv course when the multiple brick units are placed end to end. c

. 'Ihe illusion of a continuous bond is brought about by a configuration on the outside face of the half bricks which allows the building of each half brick into an enlo'ining half brick in ,such

manner that the joint is very diiiicult to disstill soft and the slabs are held firmly in position. 'I'he bonding material will tend to squeeze up between the brick slabs in the mortar lines as.

at 30 and will create the appearance of mortar between the bricks. If desired these mortar cracks can be pointed in with mortar or other maor other material can be placed into or-ontop of the bonding material and adhered to same. However, one reason for using the thin slab of approximately M; inch thickness is that the slabs need not be mortared after they are applied.

The preferred type oi.' backing for the half I bricks is illustrated in Fig. 10 where it will be seen that a backing member 3| is provided with horlzontal raised portions 32, which are approximately the width of the mortar joint andvwhich lare spaced apartat a distance equal to the width of one brick. 'I'he half bricks are pressed into place between the raised portions 32 on the backing 3|, after a suitable bonding material vhas 'been applied to the backing 3|. The bricks will :be

` spaced as at 2l and this space lled with a mortar or some other substance having the same appearance. 'I'his backing sheet is shown in cross section in Fig. 11.

In both the modifications shown in man Aand 10 it is preferable that the half bricks ou'V the end of the facing sheet extend exactly to the edge of the facing sheet, or slightly over the edge, and that the whole bricks which are located at the ends of the sheet be spaced one-half of a mortar joint from the end of a sheet. In .this way the abutting ends of the various facing sheets can be placed together to form a continuous bond. For example, referring to Fig. '7, the back sheets I4 and 34a are shown spaced slightly apart from each o ther. When they are placed end to end the two half bricks 35 and 36 on each facing sheet will join togetherto form whole bricks, and the half mortar joints 31 will join together to form a whole mortar Joint similar to 38. The facing sheet shown in Fig. 10 is especially adapted for use in forming prefabricated panels in one piece which will form a completed wall of inside and outside finish. In Fig. 13, for example, a facing-sheet 39 is connected by studs or structural members 40 to an inner panel 4I. On the other hand the panel 34 shown in Figs. 7 and 14 can also be used for this purpose and a cross section of a pref-abricated panel using the facing sheet I4 is shown in Fig. 12.

As stated above it is desirable that the completed dimensions of the face brick shown, for example, in Fig. 2, be 'substantially similar -to as above described so that the' joints between the half bricks of block 48 and the half bricks of the adjoining block wilibe imperceptible except -upon close examination. ,f'

It will be seen from; the above description that the invention can be adapted to most any type of actual brick or imitation brick facing material.

The word groovefas used in the specifications and claims in connectionv with brick surfaces shall be understoodv to mean cuts, furrows, or scratches `in the brick surface formed by rolling or scratching tools.

I claim:

l. An exterior multiple brick unit adapted t0 be secured to the base wall of a building com'- prising a rigid backing member and a plurality of relatively thin ornamental tile slabs directly secured thereto and placed end to end in pairs exposed surface of substantially the same dimensions as a standard brick,the surface of said the exposed surface of a' standard brick, but it brick course fall'directl'y over the studs so that nails 4I could be driven into the studs through v these mortar joints to hold the facing sheets in position.

A modification of theinvention is shown in Figs. 8 and 9 where a stiif backing member 44, is covered with an asphalt or asbestos 44a substance into which mortar grooves 45 have been pressed. The asbestosis covered with granules 46 formed of ground pebbles, slate, brick, or sand or other materials which are pressed into the asphalt or other adhesive. Bricks can also be simulated simply by coloring the various raised portions on the asphalt 44a. In accordance with the invention the half bricks 41 are pressed so as to form a number of vertical lines 48 which will A .serve to conceal the joint between the half bricks 41 and other half bricks of an adjoining facing sheet. `It is not necessary that all the bricks in the facing sheet, shown in Fig. 8, be provided with vertical lines though it is sometimes desirable that certain bricks in each course be textured inthe same manner as the half bricks at the end of the facing sheet in order to provide a 'symmetry of pear-ance of a brick wall. This may be accomplished by forming mortar grooves in the block itself or by fastening preiabricated 4tile slabs directly on to the face of the block. For example,

the block 44 contains four whole bricks and'four half bricks. In order to create the appearance ofaccntinuousbondinawallmadeupofblocks ,thshllfbricksorailofthsbrlcharetexin such manner that each pair of slabs has an slabs being textured to simulate a brick surface.

2. An exterior building unit adaptedto be secured to the base wall of a buildingfor forming part of an ornamental veneer wall, comprising a rigid backing member and a plurality of relatively thin ornamental slabs directly secured thereto and placed end to end in pairs in such manner that each pair of slabs has an exposed surfaceof substantially the same dimensions as the exposed surface .of a standard brick. said slabs having the outer surface thereof textured f with grooves to simulate the joint in each pair'of slabs, and said pairs of slabs being spaced apart to simulate brick bond.

3.v An exterior multiple brick unit adapted to form a part of an ornamental veneer wall, comprising the combination of a rectangular com, paratively stiff backing member and a plurality of relatively thin ornamental brick slabs covering said backing in pairs Vand single units to simulate a rectangular section of a standard brick wall having an unbroken bond, said slabs beingl spacedto simulate mortar lines, the single slabs -being located at each end of said backing and adapted to abut similar slabs in an adjoining backing member, said slabs having surface configurations substantially transverse thereof.

courses having a continuous 4. A multiple brick facing sheet adapted t0' form a portion of a simulated brick wall, comprising a relatively stiif four sided backing member, longitudinally extending raised portions on said backing member spaced substantially as are horizontal mortar spaces in a standard brick wall. and a series of relatively thin half Vbricks arranged in pairs between said raised portions to simulate horizontal brick courses. j

5.Abrickslab foruseinpairstosimulate a brick surface comprising a rectangular comparatively thin brickapproximately (half the length of a standard brick and having a'. nlshed vend and a Joining end, said brick slab having a portion oi' one surface adjacent the Joining end provided with closely spaced substantially transverse furrows corresponding in configuration` to the Joining end of said slab. the remaining portion of said surface,'consisting of a margin ad- Jacent the finished emLAbelng relativelylmnoth. NATHANIIL L. 

